Results

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – The Alaska Nanooks men's and women's Nordic ski teams concluded their participation in the 69th annual Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association Conference Championships and NCAA West Regionals on Sunday, as they raced in the 15/20km mass-start freestyle race at Howelson Hill.

In the combined team Nordic standings, Alaska placed seventh with 181 points, ranking sixth in both men's (95 points) and women's (86 points) team Nordic standings. The University of Utah was the overall winner in the Nordic standings with 351 points, taking the women's title (180 points) while Denver captured the men's title (187 points).

The Nanooks have qualified for a full men's and women's team at the NCAA Skiing National Championships on Thursday, Mar. 8 and Saturday, Mar. 10.

"It's a little bittersweet finishing the RMISA season today but we're excited for the NCAA Championships here in Steamboat next week," head coach Nick Crawford said on Sunday. "I'm pleased to announce that we have a strong team of three women and three men representing UAF next week with Seiji Takagi, Max Donaldson, Nick Lovett, Ann-Cathrin Uhl, Anna Darnell and Kati Roivas."

In the men's 20km freestyle, senior Seiji Takagi was the highest-ranking Nanook on the day with a time of 1:01:59.9 to place 14th overall. Takagi's time gave the Nanook men 18 points in a field of 33 collegiate skiers.

Redshirt-senior Nick Lovett followed closely behind with a 17th place finish, completing the race in 1:03:21.5 for 16 points, while junior Max Donaldson rounded-out Alaska's top three scorers with an 18th place finish with a time of 1:03:22.6 or 15 points.

Redshirt-senior Jan Cech completed the race in 1:05:12.0 to rank just outside the top-20 placing 23rd overall, while sophomore Lukash Platil (1:05:12.3) and junior Arnaud Guyon (1:06:36.9) placed 24th and 26th overall, respectively.

"Today's race looked like another tough mass-start race with the pace being hard from the starting line with a DU skier ultimately and unsuccessfully breaking away but it resulted in the field all strung-out after just the first lap," Crawford said of his men's team. "I was really pleased to have three men back in the top-20 today, which has eluded us the last few races. Seiji was our top skier again today, while Nick and Max skied the second half of the race together and had strong finishes today."

On the women's side, sophomore Anna Darnell was the fastest Alaska skier on the day with a 15km time of 53:56.2 to rank 16th overall. Darnell's finish gave the Nanooks a team-best 17 points in a field of 33 collegiate skiers.

Senior Ann-Cathrin Uhl was the second Alaska skier to cross the finish line on Sunday, placing 23rd overall with a time of 55:56.8 for 11 points. Freshman Anja Maijala was the third and final scorer for the Nanooks with a time of 56:09.1 to place 25th overall and earn 10 points.

Freshman Hannah Deuling was the only other Alaska competitor on Sunday, placing 29th with a time of 58:43.1.

"Today was another good skate race for Anna Darnell, as we've come to expect all year," Crawford said of his women's team. "Anna has finished in the top-20 for RMISA skiers in every skate race this season with the exception of the skate sprint at senior nationals. I'm also really pleased with our two first year women, Anja and Hannah, who had a great first year of collegiate skiing and also finishing a very difficult 15km today."

"Special congratulations goes to all of our seniors who have completed the 2017-18 regular season," Crawford concluded. "Graduating this year we have Sarissa Lammers, Anni Uhl, Alexander Eckert, Jan Cech, Nick Lovett and potentially Seiji Takagi, who might return next year as a graduate student."

The Alaska Nanooks men's and women's Nordic ski teams will compete in the NCAA Skiing National Championships Mar. 8 and 10 at Howelson Hill in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's and women's Nordic ski teams, follow @AlaskaNanooksXC on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks XC team page on Facebook.